Measuring the impact of robocalls in the 57 ridings allegedly targeted

To measure the significance of these alleged robocalls, the Post’s Sarah Boesveld, Tristin Hopper and Kathryn Blaze Carlson dug up Elections Canada’s official voting results and tales of suspicious phone calls from the affected ridings

Reports of robocalls have cropped up in federal electoral ridings from coast to coast, with the Liberals and New Democratic Party racking up quite the tally. To measure the significance of these alleged robocalls, the Post’s Sarah Boesveld, Tristin Hopper and Kathryn Blaze Carlson dug up Elections Canada’s official voting results and tales of suspicious phone calls from the affected ridings. The reports are largely gleaned from Liberal and NDP lists, which are being constantly updated (and are offered up with varying degrees of certainty). The Liberals specified live calls and robocalls, the NDP did not. Below, the 57 ridings with reported robocalls.

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Guelph, ON (NDP, Liberal lists, robocalls and live calls)Liberal – Frank Valeriote – 25,588 – 43.4%Conservative – Marty Burke – 19,352 – 32.8%NDP – Bobbi Stewart – 9,880 – 16.7% Guelph is the nerve centre of the Elections Canada investigation into harassing or deceptive phone calls made in an apparent effort to discourage Liberal supporters from voting. In a Liberal riding the Conservatives wanted to paint blue, voters said they received recorded calls that were purported to be from Elections Canada, telling them their polling stations had moved. A chaotic scene ensued at one polling station, which might have led to voters failing to cast a ballot. Michael Sona, a 23-year-old Conservative staffer who worked for candidate Mr. Burke in the Guelph riding resigned Friday in the face of the “robocalls” probe. On Tuesday, it was revealed that Elections Canada’s investigation into the “robocalls” squared on a Conservative party campaign in Guelph.

St. Paul’s, ON (Liberal, live calls)Liberal — Carolyn Bennett – 22,409 – 40.6%Conservative — Maureen Harquail – 17,864 – 32.4%NDP – William Molls – 12,124 – 22.0% The Liberals in this riding received complaints from Jewish voters who said the campaign was repeatedly calling them on the Sabbath, although the campaign said it was very mindful not to phone on Saturdays. The calls referred to the candidate as “Doctor Carolyn Bennett,” a phrase her campaign doesn’t use, Postmedia reports.

Kingston and the Islands (Liberal list, live calls)Liberal – Ted Hsu – 23,842 – 39.3%Conservative – Alicia Gordon – 21,189 – 34.9%NDP – Daniel Beals – 13,065 – 21.5% Liberals in this Kingston riding reported being woken at 2 a.m by callers who falsely claimed to be from the Liberal campaign soliciting their votes, calls early on Easter Sunday when the Liberals had stopped campaigning, late evening calls to elderly residents in senior’s homes and calls on election day reporting moved polling stations. “I probably should have [complained earlier],” Mr. Hsu told the CBC. “Now I realize it’s much bigger.”

Saanich-Gulf Islands, BC (NDP, Green Party lists)Green — Elizabeth May — 31,890 — 46.33%Conservative — Gary Lunn — 24,544 — 35.66%NDP – Edith Loring-Kuhanga – 8,185 – 11.89% Reports of strange calls in Saanich-Gulf Islands stretch back to 2008, when residents received calls urging them to support NDP candidate Julian West, even though Mr. West had dropped out. An Elections Canada investigator later concluded that no one had “been influenced in their vote because of the purported telephone call.”“I can’t make any allegations who was responsible for robocalls in 2008. But whoever did it got away with it, Ms. May said this week.

Sydney-Victoria, NS (NDP, Liberal lists, robocalls and live calls)Liberal – Mark Eyking – 14,788 – 39.9%Conservative – Cecil Clarke – 14,023 – 37.8%NDP – Kathy MacLeod – 7,049 – 19.0% The Liberal incumbent, who won this time by a hair, has claimed Liberal supporters in his riding were receiving automated calls and late night calls from a live person and that he didn’t file a complaint until after his election win.

Parkdale-High Park, Toronto, ON (NDP, Liberal lists, robocalls and live calls)NDP – Peggy Nash – 24,046 – 47.2%Liberal – Gerard Kennedy – 16,757 – 32.9%Conservative – Taylor Train – 7,924 – 15.6% Liberal supporters called the campaign of Mr. Kennedy to complain about late night calls. “As I was responsible for our call centre relationship in both campaigns, I can guarantee that it was not us making the calls, campaign worker Jason Easton told Postmedia.

Thunder Bay – Superior North (NDP list)NDP – Bruce Hyer – 18,334 – 49.9%Conservative – Richard Harvey – 10,894 – 29.7%Liberal – Yves Fricot – 6,117 – 16.7% In a letter to Elections Canada sent over the weekend, NDP MPs Charlie Angus and Alexandre Boulerice included two phone numbers they say were the source of harassing or misleading calls to NDP supporters in Thunder Bay-Superior North and Edmonton East the night of April 29, 2011— just three days before the vote.

Edmonton East (NDP list)Conservative – Peter Goldring – 24,111 – 52.7%NDP – Ray Martin – 17,078 – 37.4%Liberal – Shafik Ruda – 3,176 – 6.9% Mr. Martin said his office received at least two reports of similar calls last April from a person asking to confirm voter contact information. “I’ve never seen what seems to be an organized approach across the country the way it was in this last election, borrowing sort of the [U.S.] Republican Party’s sort of hardball politics,” Mr. Martin told the CBC Tuesday.

Cambridge, ON (NDP list, live calls)Conservative – Gary Goodyear – 29,394 – 53.4%NDP – Susan Galvao – 15,238 – 27.7%Liberal – Bryan May – 8,285 – 15.1% Mr. May told Global News he heard complaints about live calls pretending to be his campaign. He believes they originated from a call centre. “The consistency in which they reported the content of the calls seems like they are very much scripted,” he said.

London North Centre, ON (NDP list, live calls)Conservative – Susan Truppe – 19,468 – 37.0%Liberal – Glen Pearson – 17,803 – 33.8%NDP – German Gutierrez – 12,996 – 24.7% Mr. Pearson said he started getting a chilled reception at the door towards the end of his campaign. He soon found out live callers were telling resident that he spends six months of every year in Africa. He really only spends one week a year on that continent, Mr. Pearson told Postmedia.

Peterborough, ONConservative – Dean Del Mastro – 29,664 – 49.7%NDP – David Nickle – 14,723 – 24.9%Liberal – Betsy McGregor – 12,664 – 21.4% Mr. Del Mastro, who is parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, said he too was affected by dirty tricks and has called on Elections Canada to investigate all parties for inappropriate phone calls to voters. He is believed to be the only Conservative to come forward with such complaints.

Eglinton-Lawrence, Toronto, ON (NDP, Liberal list, live calls)Conservative – Joe Oliver – 22,652 – 46.8%Liberal – Joe Volpe – 18,590 – 38.4%NDP – Justin Chatwin – 5,613 – 11.6% Former Liberal incumbent Joe Volpe told the CBC last week he has “affidavits from many people who received phone calls that pretended to be from the Liberal Party but clearly were not.”

Elmwood-Transcona, MB (NDP list)Conservative – Lawrence Toet – 15,298 – 46.4%NDP – Jim Maloway – 14,998 – 45.5%Liberal – Ilona Niemczyk – 1,660 – 5.0% More than half a dozen complaints came in to Mr. Maloway’s office from NDP supporters who said someone called them to say their polling station location had changed. Mr. Maloway says the close margin by which he lost might be explained by the alleged robocalls.

Nipissing-Timiskaming, ON (Liberal list, live calls)Conservative – Jay Aspin – 15,495 – 36.7%Liberal – Anthony Rota – 15,477 – 36.6%NDP – Rona Eckert – 8,781 – 20.8% The spread was so narrow in the Northern Ontario riding that Mr. Aspin’s victory was not announced until a recount two weeks later. On Tuesday, unseated Liberal MP Anthony Rota told CBC that he had heard reports that residents in his riding were receiving calls from fake Elections Canada officials directing them to incorrect polling stations across town.

Ottawa-Orleans, ON (Liberal list, live calls)Conservative – Royal Galipeau – 28,584 – 44.55%Liberal – David Bertschi – 24,649 – 38.42%NDP – Martine Cenatus – 9,086 – 14.16% Liberal candidate David Bertschi said in April that Liberal supporters received calls from live people identifying themselves as representatives of the Liberal Party of Canada and urging them not to vote for the Liberal candidate in the riding (for whatever reason). Residents also calls from people imitating Elections Canada officials “telling voters to go to a different polling station, sometimes upwards of 30 minutes away,” according to Andy Singh, the campaign’s junior counsel.

Prince George – Peace River, B.C. (NDP list)Conservative – Bob Zimmer – 23,946 – 62.1%NDP – Lois Boone – 9,876 – 25.6%Liberal – Ben Levine – 2,008 – 5.2% According to the NDP, Dawson Creek radio station CJDC reported election day that voters “may have received a call yesterday advising them their polling station changed. Elections Canada wants to advise voters these calls are not from them and they do not know who is calling voters.”

London-West, ON (NDP, Liberal list, robocalls)Conservative – Ed Holder – 27,675 – 44.5%Liberal – Doug Ferguson – 16,652 – 26.8%NDP – Peter Ferguson – 16,109 – 25.9% Mr. Ferguson said he had heard stories about strange phone calls to party supporters, but the margin of defeat was so big for him that he didn’t think it made an impact.

Ottawa West – Nepean, ON (Liberal list, live calls)Conservative – John Baird – 25,226 – 44.71%Liberal – Anita Vandenbeld – 17,790 – 31.53%NDP – Marlene Rivier – 11,128 – 19.72% Complaints came in to Ms. Vandenbeld’s campaign office about harassing calls, purportedly from the Liberal Party, that were made at inappropriate hours, Ms. Vandenbeld told CBC on Monday. “I would hate to think that any political party would be doing this deliberately,” she said.

St. Catharines, ON (NDP, Liberal list, live calls)Conservative – Rick Dykstra – 25,571 – 50.9%New Democratic – Mike Williams – 11,973 – 23.8%Liberal – Andrew Gill – 10,358 – 20.6% On Monday, Rick Dykstra, who had held the riding since 2006, was on local media to dismiss claims of St. Catharines robocalls as “nonsense.” The former St. Catharines city councillor maintains he led a “clean and ethical campaign.”

Vancouver Quadra (NDP list, live calls)Liberal — Joyce Murray 22,903 42.17%Conservative — Deborah Meredith 20,984 38.64%NDP — Victor Elkins 7,499 13.81% Ms. Murray said “several” supporters in her riding got late-night calls from people purporting to be Liberals who were “harassing and rude.” The calls came from a number in North Dakota.

Markham-Unionville (NDP list)Liberal — John McCallum 19,429 38.9%Conservative — Bob Saroya 17,734 35.5%NDP — Nadine Hawkins 10,897 21.8% Last week, John McCallum said his party does not have a “smoking gun pointing at Stephen Harper” regarding reports of voter suppression, but said by-elections would be necessary if Elections Canada investigators can prove voters were misled.

Lac-Saint-Louis (NDP list, robocalls)Liberal — Francis Scarpaleggia 18,457 34.11%NDP — Alain Ackad 16,253 30.04%Conservative — Larry Smith 15,394 28.45% Francis Scarpaleggia said he had received reports that voters in his riding received calls saying their polling stations had moved, although he did not report it to Elections Canada. “At the time, we had no idea that it could be part of a larger, coordinated, orchestrated, strategic attempt to skew the vote in a number of ridings,” Mr. Scarpaleggia told CBC on Tuesday.